I've just checked into the Four Seasons Toronto—a sleek, modern high-rise with Prada bags behind glass in the lobby and actors Jason Priestley and Christopher Lloyd tucking in at the hotel's Café Boulud—and I’ve forgotten my razor. A silly little pink razor. It’s the kind of item I’d prefer not to call the front desk to request, and it’s late enough that I don’t want to venture out on foot. Thankfully, like with most dilemmas in the smartphone age, there’s an app for that.

The Four Seasons just released a new mobile app, a do-everything concierge that enables guests to check in, check out, order room service, request a car from the valet or turndown service from housekeeping, and yes, bashfully ask for personal items like toothbrushes, earplugs, and razors without having to speak to a soul. Once your reservation has been made, the app greats you by name each time you log on—a seemingly simple touch that actually belies three years of strategizing, back-end tinkering, and design choices to make the app stand out in the market. This isn’t the first hotel to go mobile—in fact, the Four Seasons is a little late to the game, as Ritz-Carlton, Starwood, and Marriott hotels (to name a few) all have their own apps already. But the Four Seasons appears to subscribe to the “if you can’t be first, you better be the best” school of thought.

“I think we’re going out with the best app right now,” Marco Trecroce, chief information officer and head of IT, said during a round-table preview at corporate headquarters in Toronto in May. The Four Seasons team is certainly making a case for it. The app is beautiful, relying heavily on high-gloss images of its 94 properties across 39 countries, and unlike some hotel chains, it’s available to all users, not just those in the loyalty program. A custom version in Simplified Chinese will launch in August, followed by a version in Arabic; to date, 31,960 employees have been trained on how to cater to guests “who’d rather type than talk,” said Scott Taber, senior VP of rooms (operations). Elizabeth Pizzinato, senior VP of marketing and communications, says that code words like “Millennials” didn’t come up during the iteration of the app, though this will clearly appeal to the 18- to 35-year-olds who sleep with their smartphones. “It boils down to choice—personalizing a guest experience,” said Pizzinato.

Four Seasons Hotel Toronto So, it may look pretty…but does it work? During my test run in May, I put the app to task, demanding a wake-up call and breakfast, room cleaning at a random late-afternoon time when I was at a meeting, and late-night turndown service. Each request was fulfilled smoothly, behind the scenes in the back of house, where staffers have upgraded from pagers and radios to cellphones and iPads to keep up with the 40-50 mobile requests made daily during the soft launch. Most impressive: Under “Housekeeping,” I asked for delivery of a toothbrush, toothpaste, and the aforementioned razor; six minutes after hitting “Submit,” housekeeping was at my door with discreet boxes in hand.

“You don’t want fuss and muss—you want to come and go with great efficiency,” said Pizzinato. That efficiency also extends to traditional concierge services. You can ask a concierge to make a dinner reservation or book tickets to a play—say, from the cab on the way from the airport before you even arrive. Meanwhile, a “Four Seasons Recommends” portion lists cultural events, shopping streets, and neighborhoods to visit, curated by the hotel’s concierge and front office staffers.

Is this the future of the hospitality industry: a hands-off, mouth-closed approach to service? Some hotels are already starting to test “invisible service” to appeal to a generation of independent travelers drawn to Airbnb. Taber prefers to think of apps “as a new language,” one that can be generational (hello, Millennials), or just personal—it’s how you choose to use your time, he says, in a hotel or out in the world. And when in doubt, you can always call—the app is on a phone, after all.